Pune: The Supreme Court on Wednesday directed notices to be issued to Maharashtra govt in a couple of appeals filed by two co-accused against the Bombay high court’s order rejecting their bail pleas regarding the May 19, 2024, Porsche car crash case in Pune. “Issue notice to the respondent, returnable on 30.01.2026. Learned standing counsel respondent-State accepts notice,” the SC bench of Justice BV Nagarathna and Justice Ujjal Bhuyan said. The appellants are the fathers of two minors, who accompanied the 17-year-old driver in the Porsche car at the time of the accident. Like the teenage driver’s father, these appellants are also facing charges of manipulating the blood samples of their sons, which were referred to a state-run hospital for an alcohol test. Special public prosecutor Shishir Hiray, who represented the state in the bail matter before HC, told TOI, “The SC heard the two appeals before directing notice to the govt. We will be strongly opposing the appeals.” On Dec 16, the HC bench of Justice Shyam Chandak rejected the bail pleas of the father of the teen driver, and seven others, who are facing charges of manipulating the blood sample test of the teen and his two minor friends present in the car at the time of the incident. Apart from the teenage driver’s father, who is a prominent builder, the other co-accused whose bail pleas were rejected are: Dr Ajay Taware, then-head of forensic sciences department at the Sassoon hospital, Dr Shrihari Halnor, then-chief medical officer at Sassoon, both of whom are suspended, two agents, Ashpak Makandar and Amar Gaikwad, who facilitated exchange of money, the fathers of two other minors who accompanied the teen driver, and the friend of one of these fathers, who gave his blood sample as a replacement. Two young software engineers had died after the Porsche Taycan car hit their motorcycle in Kalyaninagar around 2.30am on May 19, 2024. The minor, according to the police, was driving the car while returning to his home at Wadgaonsheri after partying with friends at a couple of pubs in Mundhwa area. It is the police’s case that as part of a conspiracy, the teen driver’s blood sample was replaced with that of his mother’s, and the blood samples of the accompanying minors were replaced with those of the other co-accused.
